Our South Park yard sometimes feels like a mini zoo to me. We’ve seen deer, chipmunks, squirrels, baby bunnies, fully grown bunnies, hawks, owls, foxes, bats, snakes and then some. I absolutely love it.
But some of them have overextended their welcome. I thought we had a deal: I don’t eat you and you don’t eat my vegetable garden. Simple. I even put a little fence around it to remind you.
I was ok when you ate one or two tomatoes but not when you broke off branches and ate ALL the tomatoes! And the other weekend we were getting ready to grill baby eggplants on the Big Green Egg when I noticed two of the four fruits were completely chewed away. Wha-wha-what?! Son of a bee sting! The critters had crossed a line. It was time to kick them out. And they’re lucky they’re not ending up on the grill!
So off to Blackhawk Hardware I went to check out their selection of stay-the-heck-away-from-my-plants solutions. Knowing that the owners are animal lovers made me think that has got to be the place in Charlotte to find humane rodent repellents and traps. And I wasn’t disappointed. Blackhawk has a whole aisle dedicated to pest and rodent control and most of them are natural and/or humane: Live animal cage traps for chipmunks, squirrels of all sizes, raccoons, rabbits, moles, and mice. Natural enemy scarecrow decoys that look like great horned owls or hawks. Ha! I had finally found a hawk at Blackhawk! Some even move their heads thanks to wind or solar energy.
Blackhawk Hardware has multiple deer repellents including ones that smell disgusting to deer but are odorless to humans. Others use ultrasound waves. No worries, these are harmless to pets, humans, and birds. Blackhawk carries eco-friendly Liquid Fence that makes deer noses cringe and stay away from your flower and veggie beds. Another thing critters hate smelling is the markings of their arch enemies: foxes and coyotes so it is Blackhawk’s pleasure to sell you some of their pee. No worries, the good stuff is collected passively without the animals taking notice of the collection. the bottles describe the collection process if you’re that curious to find out how…
So what I did for my vegetable garden is buying the I Must Garden Squirrel Repellent granules. I love that they are pet safe! I sprinkled them around my raised garden bed and so far so good: No missing tomatoes as of now (knock on wood). I also got a Havahart Cage Trap for Squirrels just in case they get in again. The thieves would get re-homed to the other side of a four-lane road. For now I’ll let them hop around the yard. Just yard though, not in my garden! Hmpf!
